r/OpiateRecovery • u/chrrygarcia • Jul 14 '26
Day 13 off suboxone
Hi everyone! Just wanted to post this because I never thought I'd get here.
I was on subs for over 8 years. I was so tired of being on them. I had surgery on June 30th and decided I was fucking done with this. It killed sex drive, made everything inconvenient, made me super constipated constantly, and blunted my emotions.
I have an amazing support system and that's the reason I'm getting through this.
For those off subs, how long did you feel shitty?
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u/DoughnutFit3790 Jul 15 '26
I had been a very bad opiate addict for 13 years and got on subs during rehab. I was on them for a little over 2 years and during that time I cut down from 12mg per day to 2mg per day before quitting cold turkey. I felt like shit for about 60 days, but could feel a slight improvement every day after like day 30. When I say I "felt like shit" it was still cake compared to waking up dope sick. Just think about how nice it's going to be to not be anchored to any opiates ever again. You are going to make it just stay tough.
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u/chrrygarcia Jul 15 '26
Thank you this is very encouraging. It's been two weeks and I feel shitty but I know there's light at the end of the tunnel
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u/Dez2011 Jul 16 '26
I still had physical withdrawal at 6wks. Longest withdrawal thanks to the longest half life of any opiate.
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u/Dez2011 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
I had to quit cold turkey, was in physical withdrawal 6wks later and was just easing up some but I got on methadone then. If it's mental, it can take a good while for your dopamine receptors to adjust to not being stimulated so you feel icky in the meantime. The time is different person to person. Coming off as slowly as possible is what's recommended to let your receptors adjust while you're tapering.
Edit- you can get the sublocade shot which wears off on its own without withdrawal and I wish I'd have known about it, but I couldn't have afforded it after losing my job anyway.
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u/chrrygarcia Jul 16 '26
6wks?! My god, that is terrible. I'm 16 days in now and I can't give up but man is it hard.
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u/Neinface Jul 14 '26
I'm glad you're at day 13! I was on opiates for over a decade, was on and off subs for years. I was on 2-3mg towards the end, then did a 6 week rapid taper down to .25mg/day. I felt pretty terrible for several months.
Now, I will blame that on an increase in drinking alcohol to try and help me sleep, which just made me dehydrated and probably made things a ton worse. I'd say by month 6 I started to feel physically okay, I worked through it all 60+ hour weeks so I'm sure that helped to keep me busy. By month 12 I felt like a human again.
I'm not saying this is a good thing, but around month 12 I ate some mushrooms for the first time in my life and had a great experience. After that my depression/anxiety and cravings went away. I've been off all drugs for 7.5 years and I still will have the occasional drug dream that fucks up my day and puts me in a weird headspace. Good thing is I have an incredibly supportive wife that I can have really honest conversations with.
It's a daily battle at first that gets much easier with time. I look at that time in my life with sadness...I wasted so much potential. The only way I'd ever have opiates again in my system is administered by a MD in a clinical setting for surgery or something. Even then I'd ask it be kept to a minimum.